Research  |  Core Facilities  |  Patient Studies  |  Tech Transfer  |  Seminars  |  Intranet  |  Careers  |  Search  |  Contact Us  |  Ways To Give                          HOME

More about
Dr. Coggeshall:

Dr. Coggeshall's CV in brief

Publications

Immunobiology and Cancer Research Program

K. Mark Coggeshall, Ph.D. Member, Immunobiology and Cancer Research Program Robert S. Kerr Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology,   University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Scholar of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Research Interests
Our laboratory has three main projects, all of which study the signal transduction processes in hematopoietic cells. In the area of inflammation, we are studying the signal transduction process by receptors for gamma-type immunoglobulins on human macrophages and neutrophils. These IgG receptors stimulate many biological functions in these cells, including phagocytosis, release of inflammatory cytokines and the elimination of pathogenic organisms. We found that inflammatory cytokines, especially Interleukin-6 (IL-6), suppress development of B lymphocytes at a very early stage. Patients with elevated IL-6 have chronic inflammation, like that present in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Likewise, elevated IL-6 is found in patients with lymphomas such as multiple myelomas and other plasmacytomas. We are identifying the individual proteins that signal cells to make IL-6.

We also study how B lymphocytes are activated by their antigen receptors. B lymphocytes respond to pathogenic proteins through surface immunoglobulin (sIg). Our work in signal transduction by sIg has shown recruitment of several proteins to the sIg receptor when it is stimulated by antigens. The enzyme phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is central to protein recruitment since inhibiting PI3K blocks all aspects of B-cell activation. We use mice deficient in the enzymes that regulate PI3K to study the role of PI3K in B cells. Our current work focuses on how sIg-recruited proteins contribute to antigen internalization and B lymphocyte activation, with emphasis on the key role of PI3K.

The third project involves signal transduction by a receptor tyrosine kinase (c-fms) that triggers macrophage migration. We are studying how PI3K regulates small GTPases Rho, Rac and CDC42. Primary macrophages from the bone marrow of mice that have altered metabolism of PI3K products show elevated chemotactic responses. We have traced the elevation to constitutively-active Rac and Vav in these same macrophages. By retroviral transduction and fluorescence microscopy, we determined how Vav is regulated by PI3K products. Our future studies will examine how these proteins involved in the signal transduction process are able to regulate assembly of the actin cytoskeleton and movement of the cell.

Joined OMRF Scientific Staff in 1999.

Mailing Address
Immunobiology and Cancer Research Program, MS 23
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104

Contact Information
Phone: (405) 271-7905
Lab: (405) 271-7883
Fax: (405) 271-8568
E-mail: Mark-Coggeshall@omrf.org